Summer Grief Carnival

We hope you can join us for a day of intentional tending and acknowledgement of our individual and communal grief in collaboration with Wapato Island Farm. At this gathering we will have healers, artists and teachers from different cultural traditions who offer practices for working with loss, memory and mourning. 

Grief is a normal part of living that comes with all loss — including but not limited to death. In the midst of so many global and national traumas, including pandemic, communal grief is rampant. We hope this gathering will be an opportunity for people to take stock of pain they're carrying without judgement or fear of it being the wrong kind or wrong amount, call out for help, and feel what it's like when people call back. We're excited to offer a place to gather generously in the presence of grief, see how strong and beautiful we are when we show our suffering and feel empowered to live a bit more genuinely, more of the time.  

As a fundraiser for our work at the Portland Grief House, we will also be holding a silent raffle for several lovely art pieces and one-on-one offerings in the Portland area. Many of the offerings for this event were made possible by a generous Vibrant Spaces grant from the City of Portland, PBOT and ARPA.

What to expect at this gathering:

• We will gather and give thanks to the land together.
• You will have the opportunity to visit the offerings we've prepared for you.              
• We will take the afternoon to explore and soak up these experiences before gathering for a catered dinner from Meals 4 Heels around 5:30.
• After dinner we will come together around the firepit for a larger group connection and live blues music by Tevis Hodge.

Grief carnival stations will include:           

• Song Baths with the Portland Threshols Singers - lie back and rest in these women's voices and presence.    

• Flower Medicine with Lyndsey Trapp

• Memory Stitching with Serena Schulz-Rodriguez - bring an item of clothing or a cloth bag (or we'll provide you with a handkercheif) and a word or simple image that you'd like to keep near.

• Face and Body Painting with Nia Malone - Nia will work with you to understand the shape and color of your grief and paint it beautifully onto your body. 

• Oracle Readings with Emi Stone

• Tapping with Sarah Rennalls - This somatic practice can help integrate emotion that can't find its way out through words. 

• One-On-One Grief Poetry Spills with Hillary Rappaport - Spill out your grief in words, let Hillary collect them and find their way into poems.

• Self guided art

• A Thank You and I'm Sorry Letter Writing Station

• Oppertunities to talk one-on-one with a grief companion or the land.

...and more 

To bring:

• A water bottle and any additional snacks you might want throughout the day. There will be very limited trash service. Plan to carry away everything you bring in.
• A blanket, cushion or chair for the firepit or to lie on in the fields.

We look forward to tending our grief along side you this summer. 

******This is sliding a scale, ticketed event. We are committed to making all our gatherings accessible to everyone. If you need help making this affordable for you and your family, please contact us at info@griefhouse.org!*******